Animals are conventionally washed by hand. This requires the application of water, cleaning and conditioning agents and is a highly labor intensive operation. The result is that hand washing is slow, laborious, and does not produce uniform results, since neither thorough washing nor thorough rinsing can be assured.
Several devices have been created to assist with animal washing. Some pre-existing devices utilize water re-circulation, while other devices use water on a once-through basis. Yet other devices use a selector valve or valves permitting the selection among various products for mixing (with water) and dispensing of only one product at a time.
Early animal bathing systems used a sump pump or bilge-type in the tub to re-circulate and reuse mixed product while bathing an animal. The sump pump was placed over the drain in the tub. The tub was filled with some water. Shampoo or conditioner product was poured in the tub near the sump pump. The pump was then activated to pump the resulting mixture through a hose and onto the animal. Some professionals don't care to reuse product in this fashion out of the belief that they will be putting dirty water back on the animal, re-circulating the mixture. Yet, others remain ingrained to this type of operation out of the belief that such operation dramatically saves shampoo and conditioner product consumption.